1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatus designed to accurately position a hyperthermo-radiative device at user's vertebral acupuncture points, and a method of controlling the hot compress and acupressure apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a conventional box type hot compress and acupressure apparatus was improved into a mat type hot compress and acupressure apparatus that in turn has been improved into a bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatus. The bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatus has a bed type frame as a basic structure on which a mat can be mounted. Further, in the bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatus, a hyperthermo-radiative device is mounted and reciprocated in a predetermined range within the mat. Typical bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatuses are disclosed in Korean Utility Model Patent Application No. 1999-26999, Korean Patent Application No. 2000-7031, Korean Utility Model Patent Application No. 2000-11259 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/990,861. The typical bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatus is also called as a mat for hot compress and acupressure in Korea.
Each of such bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatuses has an advantage in that a vertebra region of a user who lies on the mat can be hyper thermally treated according to a program stored in a control box of the apparatus. Thus, such bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatuses have been used widely. In conventional bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatuses, rails necessary for reciprocation of a hyperthermo-radiative device are made in the form of a gentle curve, a marginal space is flexibly provided to a certain extent in a predetermined range when the hyperthermo-radiative device is reciprocated, or a predetermined resilient spring is mounted in the hyperthermo-radiative device.
Meanwhile, in the bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatuses used widely nowadays, the movement of the hyperthermo-radiative device that has influence directly on hyperthermic treatment for users' vertebrae is controlled by an automatic program. However, such a control method is performed on the basis of a predetermined period of time. In other words, the conventional bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatuses which have been used heretofore are set such that their hyperthermo-radiative devices are moved in accordance with the passage of time based on conditions that have been input through remote controls by users.
However, since the conventional bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatus is controlled with the passage of time regardless of an actually moved distance of the hyperthermo-radiative device, there is a difference in the moved distance of the hyperthermo-radiative device between a case where a great deal of overload per unit time is exerted on the hyperthermo-radiative device and a case where no overload is exerted thereon.
Therefore, the conventional bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatus has a disadvantage in that when a user wants to be hyper thermally treated on his specific region, a final location of a hyperthermo-radiative device of the apparatus may vary according to the amount of overload exerted thereon, and thus, uniform and equal effects of hyperthermic treatment cannot be obtained sufficiently under the same conditions. This is an inevitable disadvantage in the conventional bed type hot compress and acupressure apparatus that controls the movement of the hyperthermo-radiative device based on time.